Overview

• Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising alarm over alleged harassment, humiliation and unlawful detention of Bengali-speaking workers in Odisha and Maharashtra.
• The Congress leader asked the Union Home Affairs and Labour ministries to intervene to ensure due process and protect migrants’ dignity.
• Chowdhury noted that laborers are being mistaken for Bangladeshi nationals based solely on their Bengali language and appearance.
• He emphasized the migrants’ substantial contributions to the revenues of Odisha and Maharashtra to highlight their economic importance.
• The appeal coincides with Trinamool Congress-led protests and legal actions against linguistic discrimination ahead of the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections.